July 5, 2009

A Queimada

The magical galician purifying potion keeps following me with a surprising persistense. A Queimada is one of the local specialty strong drinks, made of aguardiente, sugar,coffee seeds, citrus peeals, and, optionally, cinnamon, apples, etc., that burns with blue flames while the head of the ceremony reads the spell.

The Santiago nights are unpredictable, and one the welcome one one kind galician friend took me to a farewell party of some brazilian erasmus students, who made the queimada part of their little home botellón. And after coming back from the exhausting Lugo trip, we found our cinematografic students' flat full of people, friends of the american room-mate, who was also throwing a goodbuy thing before taking off to walk O camiño de Santiago. This time the magic was performed by his galician fellow student, who really made it look and sound spooky and magical. Queimada means it's hot. And while rinking, it first burns your eyes and nose, and only then warms up the throat. But really rich, so is worth it!